


Tattoos

by wargoddess



Series: Prompts [13]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Character(s) of Color, M/M, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-13 01:09:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14739248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wargoddess/pseuds/wargoddess
Summary: The war is over, and Jimmy Vega is at last heading off to N7 training. Kaidan's getting a tattoo for the occasion.





	Tattoos

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Physical Training](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1910556) by [wargoddess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wargoddess/pseuds/wargoddess). 



> Prompt was "Alenko/Vega and tattoos." Following on from "Physical Training."

A guy’s first tat was _important_. It was the one that defined the rest – that defined the man, really. But doing it wrong could fuck everything up. Some people got that one ink and hated it, got it lasered and gene-therapied off, and never did it again. Some people were even traumatized by the process. 

Like hell was James gonna let that happen to _his_ dude.  

Not after everything they’d been through – surviving the damn Reaper War, enduring a years-long voyage to get home without the relays, managing to figure out how to work things out between them when one of them is a grunt and the other is the second human Spectre, a first-gen biotic, and a big damn hero –

(And here James stops this line of thought, because Kaidan hates it when he’s self-deprecating.  Okay, so he’s a big damn hero, too. All of them are, thanks to Shepard, long may she rest.)

Anyway.  They’re back and Earth is getting its shit together and now James is finally about to head off for that N7 training he got invited to way back at the beginning of the war. He’s not worried about whether he’ll make rank; in between Other Things, Kaidan’s been training him. Might as well take advantage of having an amazing boyfriend, right?  James also isn’t really worried about Kaidan tossing him over for some other lover while he’s gone; that’s not Kaidan’s style.  But Kaidan asked for a tat to remember James by, and that’s… just the best damn thing.

He’s let Kaidan pick the design, only offering suggestions when asked.  Kaidan’s got a good eye; he’ll be fine.  But James handled finding the tattoo artist.  His own favorite guy, from back when he lived in SoCal, is dead.  Reaperized. James has asked around, though, and done his research, and even asked EDI to double-check his findings for… hell, whatever might be an issue. She actually figures out that one of his prospective artists is an STG operative who’s likely to insert a subcutaneous listening mesh into Kaidan because he’s a Spectre, so hey, good on James for being thorough. Shame, though. Spy-dude did good ink.

So they’ve gone with James’ second pick – who’s also good – and now Kaidan lies on a tatting table with his head in a face rest, holding James’ hand while the woman inks him up.  He isn’t making a sound, but that hand twitches, now and again.  Painless tattooing is easy with nanotech, but James told Kaidan once that he believed pain _should_ be part of the process, because making a permanent change to one’s self should echo in the nerves and blood and soul. So because James spouted some psycho-spiritual bullshit, Kaidan’s hurting now, as the woman uses old-fashioned electric needles on his pristine tan skin. James can’t decide whether to be mad at himself for this, or proud of Kaidan, but mostly he’s both. He can be both.

The ink is beautiful. The design is abstract:  a spray of elongated black wedges across his back, arcing from shoulder to shoulder.  It looks like wings, or a cape, or a necklace of thresher maw teeth.  Kaidan’s got the perfect body for this design, his shoulders broad and torso elegantly tapered.  It won’t show when he’s uniformed, and Kaidan’s shy of going shirtless, so nobody will see it until James gets back.  In fact, it’s likely nobody else will ever see it, for as long as he and James are together, anyway. That means it’s for Kaidan… but it’s also for James. Which is fucking perfect.

Now it’s done. The artist explains how to take care of it afterward, and Kaidan gets up. It’s gorgeous. He’s gorgeous. And James is trying not to stare, trying to pretend that he isn’t immensely turned on by the sight of a beautiful man with beautiful skin adorned with art for _him, him and him alone_ – but then Kaidan steps close. Is that a flush on his cheeks? Sometimes the process of getting tatted takes you full circle, all the way from pain into _something else_.  Is Kaidan there? He’s breathing hard. Sometimes it’s hard to tell when Kaidan’s DTF – wait. Oh.  Ohhh, yeah. He’s not blinking as he looks at James, and there’s a familiar sort of intensity underlying that hard stare.  Kaidan’s either gonna murder him or fuck him blind the minute they get home.  Or both. Maybe Kaidan’s gonna fuck him to death. And that is a-oh-kay by James, because there are lots worse ways to go.

But Kaidan just smiles in his quiet way. And all he says to James is, “We need to get home.”

It’s not the sexiest thing he’s ever said. (James has permanently decided that Kaidan saying, “Get on the bed,” while unfastening his pants is always gonna be the Sexiest Phrase Ever.) But it’s a close second. James grins and gives him a mock salute. “Aye-aye, MM.” 

So they head home quick, and spend the rest of the evening admiring Kaidan’s tattoo together, in private.


End file.
